Waukee pays $70,000 after police break down woman's door

Grant Rodgers
The Des Moines Register

The city of Waukee has agreed to a $70,000 payment to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman whose apartment door was broken open after she refused to let a group of police officers inside without a warrant. 

Angela Renze sued four Waukee police officers after she was found "not guilty" of interference with official acts in February.

Angela Renze and her attorney contended in the lawsuit that she was wrongly arrested and had her privacy invaded in July 2015 when three officers and a sergeant decided to force their way into her condo on Southeast University Avenue. Police were responding to a neighbor's report of "loud screaming" in the building.

The officers jailed Renze, 44, on a charge of interference with official acts, but she was found "not guilty" by a magistrate who ruled that there were no signs of danger or violence coming from the apartment that justified the officers' warrant-less search.    

As part of the settlement, Renze agreed to drop her civil rights lawsuit against the department, police officers Robert Gitzen, Neil Lemke and Brett Armstrong and Sgt. Jeremy Long. Under the terms, the Waukee Police Department and the officers "deny that they have done anything improper or illegal concerning the incident." Renze signed an agreement releasing the city from the lawsuit in late May.

Attorney Brandon Brown

Renze's attorney, Brandon Brown, said litigation over the incident has led him to believe other people might have experienced similar treatment from Waukee police. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in most cases bars police from entering a home without a warrant, and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union advise that people have no obligation to open their door for an officer without a warrant or answer any questions posed.

"Based on my investigation on behalf of Ms. Renze, I don’t believe that her case is an isolated incident," Brown said. "I believe there may be other individuals similarly situated to her and I think it’s important for citizens, particularly citizens of Waukee, to understand what their rights are. They may have a legal remedy if their rights are violated.”

Waukee Police Chief John Quinn was not immediately available to speak with a reporter about the settlement. The case was settled by the city's insurance company, and city council approval was not required, said Summer Evans, marketing and communications director for the city. 

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"Our understanding is that the city’s insurance company made a business decision to settle this claim based on the cost of protracted litigation," she said. "The city denied this claim, and there have been no other claims of this nature made against the city or the Waukee Police Department." ​​​

Waukee officers were dispatched to Renze's complex after 10 p.m. July 30, 2015, when a neighbor reported "loud screaming" possibly coming from her unit. Before arriving, two officers were told by dispatch that a man who had been associated with the condo in the past was wanted by Des Moines police. 

Renze has said that the man was her ex-boyfriend, a felon with a history of marijuana and methamphetamine arrests, but that they were not dating at the time. Renze testified at her criminal trial that she was sleeping alone in her living room when she awoke to officers knocking on the door. Renze told the officers that she was "OK" and asked them to leave if they had no warrant. She also offered to come downstairs and meet them in the building's entryway, but Long gave permission to break down the door after arriving on the scene.

The officers found no one other than Renze inside the condo after breaking down the door, though Gitzen and Lemke both testified that they heard a male voice from inside the apartment as they stood on the other side of the door. Renze had no peephole in the door, so she could not actually see the officers telling her to open the door, she testified at trial.

The only other exit from the apartment was a balcony with a 36-foot drop to the ground. Armstrong testified at the trial that he watched the balcony "on and off" for approximately 10 minutes after he arrived on scene and saw no one trying to leave the apartment that way. Armstrong also testified that it would be possible, but "extremely difficult" for somebody to escape using the balcony. 

In a ruling acquitting Renze, Dallas County Magistrate Leslie Clemenson wrote that officers could have used less intrusive measures than a warrant-less search, like surveillance, to determine whether a wanted person was inside the dwelling. Clemenson also noted that none of the officers reported checking on Renze's welfare or safety once they were inside the condo. She found Renze not guilty of the charge, despite testimony from the officers that the 120-pound woman tried to physically block them from searching her home — a claim Renze denied. 

"It was not reasonable to break through the defendant's door, only to storm into her home en masse, make no effort to check her condition or render aid, and then to immediately begin conducting a warrant-less search," Clemenson wrote in the four-page ruling.

Can police officers come into your home?

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures." The American Civil Liberties Union advises that police officers and agents cannot search a person's home without a warrant or permission from the owner, or a roommate or guest.

"If law enforcement officers knock on your door, instead of opening the door, ask through the door if they have a warrant," reads the ACLU booklet "Know Your Rights When Encountering Law Enforcement." "If the answer is no, do not let them into your home and do not answer any questions or say anything other than 'I do not want to talk to you.'"

Officers are not supposed to punish a person for refusing to let them inside. If officers do have a warrant, ask them to slip it under the door or show it to you through a peephole, the group advises.

Police can enter a person's home without a warrant if there are so-called "exigent circumstances," such as evidence of a violent crime happening inside.